Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
‘See You in Court’: Teachers Union Vows to Fight Trump's Education Department Order: “Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, vowed to sue the administration if it moved forward with a mandate to obliterate the agency's limited federal role in the nation's schools.”
Protests Demanding No Privatization of Post Office Sweep the Nation: “‘Privatization shifts workers’ dollars from the public good to the corporate sector investor class,’ APWU President Mark Dimondstein said on March 10, announcing the upcoming events. ‘It’s not just us, but there’s a fast and furious effort’ by Trump and his handler, Musk, ‘to hollow out the government for enriching billionaires and launching a coup.’”
We Need to Protect Workers from Dangerous ‘Bossware’ Technology: “In an era where the lines between work and personal life are increasingly blurred, the rise of new worker surveillance and control technologies is creating a dystopian reality that demands urgent attention from policymakers. Legislation filed on Beacon Hill, An Act Fostering Artificial Intelligence Responsibility, known as the FAIR Act, would provide Massachusetts workers with much-needed protection against reckless and harmful uses of ‘bossware’ technologies. Employers use these electronic and algorithmic decision systems to automate managerial functions, including determining whether workers get a job, tracking workers’ locations and communications throughout—and sometimes even after—the workday, and deciding how much workers get paid and whether they get promoted, demoted, or fired.”
Hollywood Actors Take the Fight Against AI to Sacramento: “The bill is sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and co-sponsored by the Creative Artists Agency and the National Association of Voice Actors. Joely Fisher, SAG-AFTRA secretary-treasurer and chair of its government affairs and public policy committee, said the fight over AI was at the heart of the union’s strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that ran 118 days in 2023. The language about AI in the contract wasn’t approved until the 11th hour, she said, ‘always knowing that we needed legislation to enforce some of the things that we talked about and our studio partners agreed to.’”
Everett Kelley: ‘As a Poor-Performing Probationary Employee, Elon Musk Must Go’: “Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been on the job for less than two months, but the early results are nothing short of disastrous. These include a series of airplane safety incidents, cancelled appointments at the VA, long lines outside national parks, and abandoned medical research. Through it all, there is an overriding sense that the world's richest man is using his power over President Donald Trump to steal from the public coffers and enrich himself.”
Nevada’s Grad Student Workforce Pushes for Collective Bargaining Rights: “Graduate students employed within the Nevada System of Higher Education say they have little recourse when dealing with hostile work environments, low pay, demanding workloads, and financial instability. Riley Jones, a PhD student studying life sciences at UNLV, said the current system leaves graduate workers at the whims of ‘our advisers, departments, and graduate colleges to support us when one demand, one responsibility, one job conflicts with another.’”
Washington Bill Aims to Extend Unemployment Benefits to Workers on Strike: “Sandee Flores had never been on strike before. But in October 2024, she and her co-workers at the DoubleTree Seattle Airport walked off the job, demanding better wages. Her father had been a union member too, and now she was the one holding the picket line. The strike lasted a week—short enough that Flores didn’t face serious financial hardship. But she saw the strain it put on many of her co-workers. Even a few days without pay meant tough choices: stretching every dollar, leaning on family, or turning to strike funds.”
‘One Job Should Be Enough’: How 9,000 Grocery Workers Are Banding Together in Minnesota: “Monica Duque never knows how many hours she is going to get in a given week. She works at the Jerry’s Cub Foods on East Lake Street at the front of the store, helping customers, overseeing cashiering, and running online shopping. She finds out her hours, she explains, “when the schedule is posted on Friday, for the week after next.’ ‘There is no consistency,’ says the 24-year-old, which makes it hard to save money, or plan much for the future. She makes a little over $20 an hour, and even being cut 10 hours in a week can have a big impact on her finances. ‘I can do morning one day then night shift the next day. I go from eight-hour days to barely getting seven-hour days. I can never really rely on how much money I’m going to make.’”
Colorado Would Become Second State to Limit When Workers Can Be Fired Under Union-Backed Ballot Measure: “Colorado would become the second ‘just-cause employment’ state in the U.S. should a measure proposed by state union leaders make the 2026 ballot and pass. Initiative 43 would prohibit companies with more than eight employees from firing or suspending a worker without just cause, which is defined in the measure as substandard performance, material neglect, repeated policy violation and gross insubordination. Conviction of a crime of ‘moral turpitude’—like murder, kidnapping and sexual assault—and an employer’s financial instability would also constitute just cause under the initiative. The proposal was filed by Dennis Dougherty, who leads the AFL-CIO in Colorado, and True Apodaca, political director at SEIU Local 105.”
Hawaiian Airlines Reaches Tentative Agreement with Flight Attendants on Contract Extension: “Hawaiian Airlines flight attendants reached a major milestone recently. The carrier, which was just recently acquired by Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, reached a tentative agreement with its flight attendant union for a contract extension. This new agreement, which will last for several years, comes with a variety of improved benefits for Hawaiian cabin crew. While the airline's flight attendants have not yet voted on the contract, each side seems optimistic regarding the agreement.”